UNCLAIMED AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter [168c:001c] (rev 01) - wireless driver not installed on Acer Aspire 4720 in Ubuntu 9.04

Asked by Scumhunter

I am using Ubuntu 9.04 right now. I do not have the network manager icon anywhere that I can find. I have not been able to activate it either via the command line. It was suggested I trying something called 'wicd' but was unable to find it. I am using an Acer laptop with an Atheros AR5007EG Wireless adaptor. The wireless is turned on and works fine from the Vista partion. On the Ubuntu side though I am only able to connect via wired connection.

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Revision history for this message
Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said :
#1

Hi,

Please first connect your network card to the wireless router using an ethernet cable (also known as a LAN cable).

In order to gather essential troubleshooting information about your wireless card, please follow this procedure:

Step 1: Open Terminal from "Applications->Accessories->Terminal"

Step 2: Please copy-paste the following command from the https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu website in Firefox into the Linux Terminal. Do NOT copy-paste from the Email message into the Terminal, as that will only copy PART of the command. The command STARTS with the word sudo and ENDS with the word restart. So please copy-paste the ENTIRE command below from Firefox into a Terminal, press <enter>, then enter password when sudo asks for password, then press enter again.

sudo lshw -C network; sudo iwlist scanning; cat /etc/network/interfaces; cat /etc/lsb-release; lspci -nn; lsusb; sudo lshw -C usb; uname -a; dmesg | grep ound; dmesg | grep b43; dmesg | grep iwl; iwconfig; sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Step 3: Please post results (copy/paste terminal output) on this thread

Step 4: Please also specify the exact model and make of your PC (if known) on this thread

Regards,

Mark

Revision history for this message
Scumhunter (scumhunter) said :
#2

The output was rather big but here are the results:

  *-network UNCLAIMED
       description: Ethernet controller
       product: AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:05:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:1b:24:e2:09:f7
       size: 100MB/s
       capacity: 1GB/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.94 duplex=full firmware=5787m-v3.23 ip=192.168.1.64 latency=0 link=yes module=tg3 multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100MB/s
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Ethernet interface
       physical id: 2
       logical name: pan0
       serial: 46:46:37:a7:24:26
       capabilities: ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion=2.3 firmware=N/A link=yes multicast=yes
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

pan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=9.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=jaunty
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 9.04"
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a00] (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a02] (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a03] (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2834] (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2835] (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:283a] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:284b] (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:283f] (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:2841] (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 [8086:2843] (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:2830] (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:2831] (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:2832] (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 [8086:2836] (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller [8086:2815] (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller [8086:2850] (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller [8086:2829] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:283e] (rev 03)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter [168c:001c] (rev 01)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1693] (rev 02)
0a:09.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller [1180:0832] (rev 05)
0a:09.1 SD Host controller [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter [1180:0822] (rev 22)
0a:09.2 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller [1180:0843] (rev 12)
0a:09.3 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter [1180:0592] (rev 12)
0a:09.4 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller [1180:0852] (rev ff)
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 192f:0416 Avago Technologies, Pte.
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 064e:a101 Suyin Corp.
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Linux penalt-laptop 2.6.28-15-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Tue Aug 18 18:40:08 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
[ 0.000000] ACPI: BIOS bug: multiple APIC/MADT found, using 0
[ 0.000000] found SMP MP-table at [c00f7b90] 000f7b90
[ 1.050475] ACPI: No dock devices found.
[ 1.094942] pnp: PnP ACPI: found 11 devices
[ 1.922542] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.0: found MSI capability
[ 1.922996] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.1: found MSI capability
[ 1.923443] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.2: found MSI capability
[ 2.297455] isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
[ 2.628844] ACPI Warning (nspredef-0852): \_SB_.PCI0.SATA.PRT0._GTF: Return type mismatch - found Integer, expected Buffer [20080926]
[ 3.120119] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.136109] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.136543] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.136894] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.137251] hub 5-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.137590] hub 6-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.137923] hub 7-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.165455] device-mapper: multipath round-robin: version 1.0.0 loaded
[ 3.168946] BIOS EDD facility v0.16 2004-Jun-25, 0 devices found
[ 12.405697] iTCO_wdt: Found a ICH8M TCO device (Version=2, TCOBASE=0x1060)
[ 12.582457] sdhci-pci 0000:0a:09.1: SDHCI controller found [1180:0822] (rev 22)
[ 12.587764] ricoh-mmc: Ricoh MMC controller found at 0000:0a:09.2 [1180:0843] (rev 12)
[ 12.686670] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Acer CrystalEye webcam (064e:a101)
[ 13.580562] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

pan0 no wireless extensions.

 * Reconfiguring network interfaces... Ignoring unknown interface eth0=eth0.

My laptop is an Acer Aspire 4720, I hope this is helpful....

Revision history for this message
Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said :
#3

Hi,

Please follow this Atheros driver installation procedure:

Step 1: Open Terminal from "Applications->Accessories->
Terminal"

Step 2: Run the following commands (copy-paste each line into the Terminal, press <enter> after each line)

sudo aptitude update

sudo aptitude install build-essential subversion wicd

cd ~

wget http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-trunk/madwifi-trunk-r4099-20090929.tar.gz

tar xvf madwifi-trunk-r4099-20090929.tar.gz

cd madwifi-trunk-r4099-20090929

make

sudo make install

gksudo gedit /etc/modules

# Now add the Atheros kernel module ath_pci to the list of modules to be automatically loaded at boot by adding

ath_pci

# to the end of the /etc/modules file. (Gedit editor automatically opens)

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

# Now add the following 3 lines at the end of the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf file:

blacklist ath5k_pci
blacklist ATL1E
blacklist ath5k

# Now you can reboot and it should work.

Use wicd to connect to your wireless network.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Mark

Revision history for this message
Scumhunter (scumhunter) said :
#4

Sorry, no joy. Wicd is now installed (thank you btw), but it is reporting that it can't find any wireless networks. I know for a fact that there are at least 3 in range. I think I have done everything correctly so far that you have suggested but if you have any further suggestions please feel free.

Revision history for this message
Scumhunter (scumhunter) said :
#5

I thought it might be helpful if I redid the information request again after the changes you suggested so you could see what what has occurred since. Here you go:

  *-network UNCLAIMED
       description: Ethernet controller
       product: AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:05:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:1b:24:e2:09:f7
       size: 100MB/s
       capacity: 1GB/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm vpd msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.94 duplex=full firmware=5787m-v3.23 ip=192.168.1.64 latency=0 link=yes module=tg3 multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100MB/s
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Ethernet interface
       physical id: 2
       logical name: pan0
       serial: d2:87:ee:e2:e8:0f
       capabilities: ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion=2.3 firmware=N/A link=yes multicast=yes
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

pan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=9.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=jaunty
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 9.04"
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a00] (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a02] (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a03] (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2834] (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2835] (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:283a] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:284b] (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:283f] (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:2841] (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 [8086:2843] (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:2830] (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:2831] (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:2832] (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 [8086:2836] (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller [8086:2815] (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller [8086:2850] (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller [8086:2829] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:283e] (rev 03)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter [168c:001c] (rev 01)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1693] (rev 02)
0a:09.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller [1180:0832] (rev 05)
0a:09.1 SD Host controller [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter [1180:0822] (rev 22)
0a:09.2 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller [1180:0843] (rev 12)
0a:09.3 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter [1180:0592] (rev 12)
0a:09.4 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller [1180:0852] (rev ff)
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 064e:a101 Suyin Corp.
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 192f:0416 Avago Technologies, Pte.
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Linux penalt-laptop 2.6.28-15-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Tue Aug 18 18:40:08 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
[ 0.000000] ACPI: BIOS bug: multiple APIC/MADT found, using 0
[ 0.000000] found SMP MP-table at [c00f7b90] 000f7b90
[ 1.050703] ACPI: No dock devices found.
[ 1.094941] pnp: PnP ACPI: found 11 devices
[ 1.922587] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.0: found MSI capability
[ 1.923045] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.1: found MSI capability
[ 1.923491] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.2: found MSI capability
[ 2.298221] isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
[ 2.628854] ACPI Warning (nspredef-0852): \_SB_.PCI0.SATA.PRT0._GTF: Return type mismatch - found Integer, expected Buffer [20080926]
[ 3.120117] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.136110] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.136548] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.136899] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.137254] hub 5-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.137592] hub 6-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.137930] hub 7-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 3.165449] device-mapper: multipath round-robin: version 1.0.0 loaded
[ 3.168935] BIOS EDD facility v0.16 2004-Jun-25, 0 devices found
[ 12.638013] iTCO_wdt: Found a ICH8M TCO device (Version=2, TCOBASE=0x1060)
[ 12.723784] sdhci-pci 0000:0a:09.1: SDHCI controller found [1180:0822] (rev 22)
[ 12.733401] ricoh-mmc: Ricoh MMC controller found at 0000:0a:09.2 [1180:0843] (rev 12)
[ 12.845946] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device Acer CrystalEye webcam (064e:a101)
[ 13.712069] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

pan0 no wireless extensions.

Revision history for this message
Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said :
#6

The ath_pci driver is not being loaded during startup. Did you add ath_pci to the end of the /etc/modules file , as explained in my previous instructions?

Please send us output of the following command if you are not sure:

cat /etc/modules

Revision history for this message
Scumhunter (scumhunter) said :
#7

Yes, its in the module file:

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.

lp
ath_pci

Revision history for this message
Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said :
#8

Interesting. Ubuntu 9.04 seems to have added a new blacklist file called /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf

/etc/modprobe.d$ grep ath *
blacklist-ath_pci.conf:# which ath5k cannot recover. To prevent this condition, stop
blacklist-ath_pci.conf:blacklist ath_pci
/etc/modprobe.d$

Please delete the file called /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf using this command:

sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf

Then reboot and retest wireless.

Revision history for this message
Scumhunter (scumhunter) said :
#9

Ran the command of:

sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf

Followed by a full reboot. Still no effect on the issue. Please advise as to what further information I can get you that may help. I am starting to wonder if I should just wait for 9.10 to be released and update to that....

Revision history for this message
Randall Ross (randall) said :
#10

Hello,

For what it's worth, I have located a comprehensive set of instructions for this wireless card on Jaunty Jackalope (9.04). In a nutshell, you will need to use madwifi drivers to manage this card. Your mileage may vary, but the comments below the instruction indicate many successes:

Here is a link to the instructions:
http://ubuntumanual.org/posts/185/install-atheros-ar242x-802-11abg-wireless-driver-in-ubuntu

Please let me know if this fix works by marking this question solved. If you need more assistance, please let me know and I'll do my best.

And, if you are having this same issue and are not the original poster, please add your relevant information via the "Add Information Request" button on this page. There may be other circumstances specific to your configuration that need further investigation.

Cheers,
Randall
Ubuntu Vancouver LoCo

Revision history for this message
Scumhunter (scumhunter) said :
#11

Fail,

When I go to disable the drivers as recommended on that page I get an error of "You removed the configuration file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf". I am not able to proceed past that point.

To be specific, when I go to Hardware Drivers I am immediately shown the Alternate Atheros madwifi driver is activated. The error comes up when I click on 'Deactivate'.

Revision history for this message
Randall Ross (randall) said :
#12

I have asked the author of the original set of instructions to provide further guidance.

If you have any other information that you feel is relevant, or if you are reading this post and are also affected by this issue, please add your comments.

Stay tuned.

Revision history for this message
Scumhunter (scumhunter) said :
#13

I have upgraded to 9.10 and this has resolved the problem. Thank you all for your help.